Kent State’s offense struggled mightily in Wednesday morning’s practice, as the defense intercepted several passes thrown by different quarterbacks. Two of the passes picked off were by senior cornerbacks Darius Polk and Malcolm Pannell, both of whom have had good spring outings.

“We were a little bit sloppy on offense today,” said first-year KSU football coach Paul Haynes. “It was good on the defensive side, but bad on the (offensive) side…Last year we got 38 turnovers and only had 12. There’s a big reason for that success. Today we almost had 12 (turnovers in practice).

Back in December, many of the Flashes players felt like their world have been turned upside down with the announcement that second-year coach Darrell Hazell was taking a handful of his assistants and moving on to coach at Purdue.

Saturday morning was Kent State's annual jersey scrimmage, with the winner getting to wear the home blue jerseys during practice and drills for another year.

Aside from it being the first time this spring the offense and defense has gone 100 percent against one another, the Flashes had to deal with a bizarre snow flurry that hit midway through the scrimmage. Within about 10 minutes, the field was a thin blanket of white (check out twitter, @RyanLewisABJ, for a picture) and the wind picked up considerably. Then, 45 minutes later, the sun came out and the field was back to green again.

The Golden Flashes were pushed inside by the rain for the first time this spring and took part in a slightly shortened practice in shells in the Fieldhouse. Tomorrow is KSU's jersey scrimmage and the first real test of the spring. It's also the first time new Kent State Head Coach PaulHaynes might be able to evaluate certain position battles, namely at quarterback. Below is a video of what Haynes is looking for tomorrow.

After the Blue team defeated the gold team 34-27 in Kent State’s kick scrimmage Saturday morning at Dix Stadium, the players were pleasantly surprised to learn they were getting their 2012 championship rings from winning the Mid-American Conference East Division title last season.

Things are, albeit slowly, started to come together. A couple of the players have talked about how a good portion of the playbook was thrown at them all at one time, but it's now starting to slow down. Guys can finally play football without thinking too much, though it's just the first baby step. The defense is still far ahead of the offense, but that's to be expected. New head coach Paul Haynes still talks about becoming a "championship team," how a changing of the culture still needs to take place in the program. Tomorrow will be the kicking scrimmage, a big day for Anthony Melchiori, who is already one of the better punters around but will also be handling the field-goal duties. Haynes says he looks more at the guys sprinting down field on punts and kickoffs, and who taps out first.

Unfortunately for KSU, the story from Wednesday's practice didn't come on the field. Defensive tackle Roosevelt Nix had his left hand heavily wrapped and didn't participate in any drills, instead wearing sweats and a T-shirt. Nix says he broke his hand on Monday, already had surgery on it and will be back for the summer. His spring is likely done.

There are always a lot of "firsts" when a new coaching regime takes over a team. First press conference. First team meeting. First workout. Tuesday was Paul Haynes' first practice and Friday was the first with the "shells," meaning shoulder pads only. He wasn't entirely pleased with the effort given. Monday will be the first day in full pads and next Friday will be the first time the team scrimmages a bit. KSU did get into it with the shells on with 7-on-7s and a couple periods of 11-on-11, if only at about 80-percent speed.

Continuing the shuffling around that'll continue to happen along the offensive line, the left side stayed intact with the first three practices—Reno Reda at left tackle, Pat McShane at left guard and Phil Huff at center—but the right side was mixed up a bit. Max Plunkett got time with the first-team at right guard and Jason Bitsko was at right tackle. Anthony Pruitt was with the second-team at right guard. Terrell Johnson spent much of practice off to the side doing light workouts. More will be known about his status next week.

The second practice under Paul Haynes ran much smoother than the first. It was crisp, fewer balls hit the ground and the players know where to go. Haynes was again in a plain gray KSU sweatshirt and shorts. Above is a video of Haynes addressing his team on Day 2.

Much of the focus, and where the most sorting-out needs to happen before week 1, is along the offensive line and at the quarterback spot. David Fisher, a senior JUCO transfer, hasn't gotten off to the best start. It's only spring practice—but many of Fisher's throws today came in low and/or behind his receiver, especially during a drill that put the QBs on the run. In that drill, he threw three passes to his receiver's feet and then overcompensated and overshot his next throw. Sophomore Colin Reardon was a little cleaner but not perfect. Later, in a 7-on-7 drill, Reardon was picked off on a long post pattern by corner Malcolm Pannell, who held onto the ball after getting colliding with two safeties. Incoming freshman Nathan Strock, who will be in camp in the fall, might be the darkhorse to win the starting job, he of Tri-Valley High School.

Haynes again reiterated that he's looking for a game-manager, a field general, in his quarterback rather than a guy who'll go out and try to win games with his arm. "Just manage the game," he said. It looks like arm strength might take a back seat to staying clean, accepting the check-downs and not making the big mistakes.